On the last day of 2012, Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen inadvertently clarified two huge matters regarding the left.

The first was the ignorance about conservatives and conservatism that permeates the left. The second was the primary reason decent people identify with the left: the effective caricaturing and demonizing of the right. Were it not for caricature and demonization, most otherwise intelligent and decent people would not be on the left.

This is what Cohen wrote in his column, "Republicans Adrift:"

"It is conservatism that is both intellectually exhausted and nearly indefensible. It is the movement of the ideologically ossified, of gun zealots and homophobes, of the immigrant-phobic and the adamantly selfish. It insists that government must be small (an impossibility!), education must be local (a stupidity) and that debt, no matter what the reason, is immoral and reckless. The movement has lost its reliable monster. Godless communists have been replaced by the church ladies of Planned Parenthood. History giggles."

This caricature of conservatism was penned not by some anonymous contributor to the comments section of MoveOn.org, but by a longtime liberal columnist of the Washington Post.

Let's begin:

"Intellectually exhausted and nearly indefensible. It is the movement of the ideologically ossified ... "

All one has to do to show how ignorant this description of conservatism is to cite the names of the two conservative columnists at Cohen's paper, the Washington Post: George Will and Charles Krauthammer. Are these men "intellectually exhausted" and "ideologically ossified"? Are their views really "nearly indefensible"? I mean no insult when I say that the intellectual gap between the columns of those two conservatives' and the columns of their liberal colleagues is quite substantial.

Even outside the Washington Post, where are the liberal Charles Krauthammers and George Wills? Or the liberal intellectual equivalents of Daniel Henninger and his colleagues at the Wall Street Journal; or Jonah Goldberg and his colleagues at National Review? And what about Commentary and the Weekly Standard? Are they, too, "intellectually exhausted"? And name one black liberal thinker who inhabits the same intellectual universe as Tom Sowell, Walter Williams, Shelby Steele, Clarence Thomas or Larry Elder, just to name a few black intellectual giants of the right.

"... of gun zealots and homophobes, of the immigrant-phobic and the adamantly selfish."

I have never attended an NRA meeting, let alone been a member, but I happen to think that it is a good thing when good people are armed. Am I "gun zealot"? And if there are "gun zealots," are there not "anti-gun zealots"? Or is zealotry a conservative monopoly? That I suspect is exactly what Cohen believes -- just as he undoubtedly believes that there are religious zealots but no secular zealots.

As for "immigrant phobic," Cohen got carried away here, too. Virtually every prominent conservative voice wants an increase in immigration - of legal immigration, of people who can contribute to America's development. It is illegal immigration that conservatives oppose. Is that distinction too subtle for Cohen to appreciate?

"Adamantly selfish" may be Cohen's corker. Conservative Americans give more charity and volunteer more time than liberal Americans (controlling for income level). On what possible basis, then, does Cohen make the charge -- as false as it is defamatory -- that conservatives are "adamantly selfish?"

Conservatism "insists that government must be small (an impossibility!) ..."

America has been great in large measure precisely because it has understood that the bigger the government, the smaller the citizen. Moreover, the real "impossibility!" is not small government but the left's ever bigger government. It is neither economically nor morally sustainable, as we are seeing both in Europe and here in America.

"... and that debt, no matter what the reason, is immoral and reckless."

This is just demagoguery. Conservatives have little problem with manageable debt: a level of debt that does not rob from future generations, and debt that does not jeopardize America's supremacy in the world. And "no matter what the reason" is almost a lie. It depends entirely on the reason. The last time we had the debt percentage of the GDP we have now was World War II -- and conservatives believe that was a fine reason to get into debt, just as the Cold War was.

"The movement has lost its reliable monster ... Godless communists."

What an admission by a leading liberal -- first, that communism was not a real evil, just a "reliable monster" for conservatives, on a par with "church ladies of Planned Parenthood." Second, that "Godless" is a joke, not a real threat to the moral foundations of society -- as if the death of Christianity in Europe didn't lead to Fascism, Nazism and Communism.

"History giggles."

This is pure leftism. Since Karl Marx, the left has believed with religious certitude that its views are inevitable. "Scientific socialism" Marx called it. Everything opposing the left will end up in the dustbin of history, said Lenin.

"It is conservatism that is both intellectually exhausted and nearly indefensible. It is the movement of the ideologically ossified, of gun zealots and homophobes, of the immigrant-phobic and the adamantly selfish. It insists that government must be small (an impossibility!), education must be local (a stupidity) and that debt, no matter what the reason, is immoral and reckless. The movement has lost its reliable monster. Godless communists have been replaced by the church ladies of Planned Parenthood. History giggles."

Oh, yeah. And these are not the droids you are looking for.

Sheesh. Worst attempt at a Jedi mind trick ever.

4
posted on 01/08/2013 6:57:10 AM PST
by Texas Eagle
(If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all -- Te?xas Eagle)

Good point. Whenever I point out the absolute destruction brought by policies of the ‘Progressives’ throughout history, the discussion turns ugly. They cannot defend their ideas to form a society ruled by force. It is anti normal human behavior.
I’m here because no conservative I know wants to have slaves nor be a slave. Bottom line, it’s always about power and control.

5
posted on 01/08/2013 7:00:50 AM PST
by griswold3
(Big Government does not tolerate rivals.)

And if there are "gun zealots," are there not "anti-gun zealots"? Or is zealotry a conservative monopoly? That I suspect is exactly what Cohen believes -- just as he undoubtedly believes that there are religious zealots but no secular zealots.

And if there are "gun zealots," are there not "anti-gun zealots"? Or is zealotry a conservative monopoly? That I suspect is exactly what Cohen believes -- just as he undoubtedly believes that there are religious zealots but no secular zealots.

The Left does nothing without a purpose, and almost always in coordinated fashion. Their public attacks on conservatives and conservatism have escalated in recent days, growing ever more shrill and filled with disturbingly violent rhetoric.

And as always, Progressives employ the tactic of accusing conservatives of what they themselves are doing and of harboring intentions that properly belong to themselves.

Groundwork is being clearly laid here. The question is: for what? Of course, to publicly pose such questions is to risk being labeled "paranoid" or worse. But to blithely endure the kind of personal abuse and expressions of - yes, outright hatred - favored by Richard Cohen et al. is to willfully ignore the dark impulses that lie just beneath the Progressive veneer of "caring and sharing", most notably: an urge to rule, a will to power, and a desire to destroy anything that cannot be tamed.

And that is why at least for me, reading articles like this one is worrisome and depressing. Liberal Fascism is real, and it's here.

“It is the movement of the ideologically ossified, of gun zealots and homophobes, of the immigrant-phobic and the adamantly selfish. It insists that government must be small (an impossibility!), education must be local (a stupidity) and that debt, no matter what the reason, is immoral and reckless. The movement has lost its reliable monster. Godless communists have been replaced by the church ladies of Planned Parenthood. History giggles.”

This is what happens when conservatives refuse to articulate their positions and allow verbal dishonesty to replace reasoned political debate.

Gun zealot is a stupid term and should be recognized as such. People aren't zealots about guns. They just don't want honest citizens blamed for crimes they have nothing to do with just because they are gun owners. Homophobe is a made up word created a few years ago by liberal columnists so that they can engage in name calling and imply that there is something wrong with traditional values. Trillions of dollars in government waste and the irresponsible accumulation of unsustainable debt are defended by saying responsible government spending is an impossibility.

Planned parenthood hasn't replaced to brutal evil system of communism. Communism is still evil. The killing of millions of innocent unborn children is also evil. This killing is not done by “church ladies” but by multimillion dollar enterprises funded with taxpayer dollars.

History can not giggle. Obnoxious, self-important little Washington insiders who think they are better than honest hardworking Americans giggle. They also smirk and ridicule.

Hoplophobia is a pejorative[1] neologism originally coined to describe an "irrational aversion to weapons, as opposed to justified apprehension about those who may wield them."[2] It is sometimes used more generally to describe the "fear of weapons"... wikepedia

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